Biz group prods airport panel to beef up its PR: authority putting $2.2M into effort for 2006 site choice.

A business organization pushing to relocate San Diego International Airport from its cramped Lindbergh Field quarters is critical that the agency running the operation hasn't done an effective job of selling the public on the idea.

"We've been following the situation very closely, and we don't see that the story is out in the media," said John Chalker, who is president of the Alliance in Support of Airport Progress in the 21st Century, better known as ASAP-21. "We don't see that it's being effectively promulgated."

Chalker, who is also the co-founder and managing director of LM Capital Group, LLC, said the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, which oversees the finances and operations of Lindbergh Field, needs to focus more on education and outreach to inform the public about the need for an expanded airport.

"There's too much focus on where to move the airport and not why," he said. "I think they need to review the entire (public relations) program. What they do in their outreach needs to be done on a sustained basis.

"They've got plenty of money. There's not a problem that can't be solved with that."

Chalker sent ASAP-21's recommendation in a letter last week to the Air port Authority's board chairman, Joe Craver, the president of Galaxie Management.

Craver was out of town and could not be reached for comment. Rick Cook, a partner in Gable-Cook-Schmid Public Relations, which has a three-year, $2.2 million contract with the Airport Authority to do public relations in conjunction with the site selection, declined to comment.

But Diana Lucero, the Airport Authority's director of public and community relations, to whom Cook referred all questions, said she'd received ASAP-21's letter and disagreed that the agency's public relations effort was falling short.

"Our public outreach is extensive and has reached all areas of San Diego County," Lucero said.

ASAP-21 is a 17-member group consisting of some prominent public figures and high-profile business executives. They include John Hawkins, past chairman of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and president of Cloud 9 Shuttle Inc., Dennis Burks, retired general manager of SeaWorld San Diego, who heads Burks & Associates, and Reint Reinders, the chairman and chief executive officer of the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau.

By law, the Airport Authority must make a site recommendation for relocating the airport in time to appear on the November 2006 countywide ballot.

Meanwhile, the agency's short list of sites includes four active military bases within the county: Marines Corps Air Station Miramar and the adjacent East Miramar, Marines Corps Base Camp Pendleton near Oceanside and Naval Air Station North Island. March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County is also on the list, as are sites in Borrego Springs and the Imperial Valley desert.

Expanding Lindbergh Field is also a possibility. The Airport Authority agreed not to study the military sites until the Department of Defense's Base Realignment and Closure process, commonly known as BRAC, is completed in late fall or early winter.

Lucero said the goal of the Airport Authority is to educate voters on the issues surrounding Lindbergh Field so they can make an informed decision when they go to the polls.

That in mind, she said the Airport Authority's nine board members, and its president, Thella Bowens, are making themselves available for speakers bureaus. Town hall-style meetings have also been held, and more are planned. Other efforts include an Internet dialogue, an extensive newspaper insert and requests for editorial board meetings with the county's media outlets.

Reaction to the effort by members of the local media was mixed.

Cliff Albert, news director for KOGOAM 600, said it's difficult to generate news coverage on a topic that lacks immediacy.

"They (the Airport Authority's publicists) have a tough assignment," Albert said. "That story's been around for 40 years. Until it gets closer to the deadline (to place a site on the 2006 ballot), it doesn't have the timeliness that newsrooms want."

Michael Marcotte, news director for KPBS radio and television, said he thought the airport's publicity machine missed at least one chance to grab Page One headlines.

When politicians were publicly crying foul last spring and the Airport Authority bowed down and agreed to stop studying the county's military bases as relocation sites, Marcotte said that would have been a great time to get its message out on why the airport should be moved.

"It was politically sensitive, and it was an example of how an organized effort could have won them press coverage," Marcotte said.

Greg Dawson, news director for NBC 7/39, was more complimentary. He said his editorial board meeting recently with Lucero and Bowens provided a thorough education.

"They gave us a lot of good information that was helpful on a confusing topic," he said. "But we didn't come out and say let's do a story tomorrow. It didn't spur a story idea, but it heightened our awareness." Yet the public may not be as willing to listen, Dawson said.

"It's hard to make a case for something that won't affect them for 10 to 20 years in the future," he said.

Aside from wanting the Airport Authority to beef up its public relations effort, Chalker said ASAP-21 has recommended that it reconsider some sites taken off the list "by making perhaps modest changes in screening criteria."

Additionally, ASAP-21 says that the Airport Authority should contact the Department of Defense "to initiate a dialogue" on whether joint civilian, military use of any of the county's military air stations is possible.

But Chalker stressed that the question shouldn't be brought up before the end of July, when BRAC reaches the deadline for adding any more military installations to its hit list.

Currently, none of the county's major bases are targeted for closure, however there are rumblings that Marine Corps Recruit Depot may yet make the list.